"No problem."
Zhou Tu agreed without hesitation—to him, it was perfectly natural for students to listen to their teachers.
After receiving Zhou Tu's confirmation, Chen Ge nodded slightly. He didn't need the club to develop into anything grand; he simply needed every member to follow orders and be able to coordinate with him during operations.
"Before long, you'll all be grateful for the choice you made today." Chen Ge looked out at the bustling West Campus. "I have no intention of changing any of this—it's just that everyone deserves to know the truth. After all, this dream was woven from all of our memories."
The students couldn't quite understand what Chen Ge was saying. They just felt that this teacher was eccentric, different from the others.
"Alright, now that we've all gotten acquainted, let's start today's club activity." Chen Ge gestured for the members to come closer. "Have any of you heard any urban legends about our school?"
"Teacher, what exactly are you planning to do?" Zhou Tu instinctively felt a sense of foreboding. This teacher seemed about to embark on something dangerous.
"Our club is called the Supernatural Research Society, so our activities naturally involve researching the supernatural. What's wrong with that?" Chen Ge said with a perfectly straight face, making a claim that even the students didn't buy.
"That's technically true, but if we just go looking for the supernatural, won't people think we're..." Zhu Long coughed awkwardly, unable to find the right word. "Also, it's getting pretty late. If other teachers see us, won't they have something to say?"
"Don't worry about it." Chen Ge produced Teacher Bai's teaching certificate, his fingers casually obscuring the photograph. "The school won't interfere. I'll handle everything."
Seeing the certificate, both Zhou Tu and Zhu Long relaxed. But Wang Yicheng still furrowed his brow, as though something weighed on his mind.
"Xiao Wang, what do you want to say? Don't hold back—once you've joined the club, we're all family."
"Teacher Bai, I was wondering—what if we actually see something we're not supposed to see? What then? Just the few of us?" Wang Yicheng's reaction was odd. Whether he'd been spooked by the ghost stories the seniors told, or whether certain memories in his mind hadn't been fully erased, something about Chen Ge's plan to lead them on a search for supernatural phenomena had clearly rattled him.
"Some things you have to see with your own eyes before you'll believe them. And don't worry about safety—our club may be small, but every single member is elite. Besides, with me here, everything is under control." Chen Ge's tone was confident, his expression calm, giving off an air of absolute reliability. "Now tell me—what urban legends have you heard about the school?"
The small plaza had quieted down considerably. Most students had already signed up for their clubs, and the surrounding temperature seemed to have dropped as well.
"I've heard one urban legend. It's probably made up, but I actually met the person involved." Zhang Ju was the first to speak. "When I arrived at the school yesterday, because of my situation, a teacher specifically called me into the office and asked if I needed any help. There was also a senior student in the office—he kept crying, muttering a girl's name over and over."
"After I overheard the teacher's conversation with him, I found out that the name he kept repeating belonged to one of his many admirers. That day was his birthday, and the girl had lured him to the woods to confess her feelings, but he rejected her."
"At the time, he didn't think much of it. He went back to his dorm, sang and drank with his roommates, and forgot all about it."
"But the next day, the school discovered the girl was missing. Her body was eventually found in the woods. The manner of her death was horrific."
"The most terrifying part was that the girl's time of death was *before* she met with the senior. To this day, no one can explain why. The senior student, under unbearable psychological pressure, was planning to take a leave of absence."
Zhang Ju touched the burn scars on his face. "That's all I know—I don't have the specifics. If you want to go to those woods, I can lead the way."
"The girl's time of death was before she met the senior? Could the senior have been lying? Maybe he was the killer—the girl never liked him in the first place?" Chen Ge thought of the girl he'd seen in the East Campus woods, wreathed in resentment, completely impossible to communicate with.
"I think the killer was someone else entirely. The girl just wanted to see the person she loved one last time before the end. It's just a pity that person didn't love her back." Zhu Long touched the scar on his arm—a mark left from having a tattoo removed.
"That's a person's name, isn't it?" Zhou Tu glanced at Zhu Long's arm. "Who'd have thought—you're quite the romantic." He then turned back to Chen Ge. "Teacher, why don't we just go to those woods today? The sooner we finish, the sooner we can head back to the dorm. Look—there's barely anyone left on the plaza."
"No rush. Has anyone else heard any other urban legends?"
"I haven't heard any urban legends, but I did come across an interesting story online." Zhu Long habitually touched the scar on his arm. "The gist is this: a very innocent boy meets a girl he likes. He musters up the courage to confess, and the girl neither immediately accepts nor directly refuses. Instead, she says that if they can end up at the same university, she'll be with him forever."
"The boy's grades were terrible. He worked himself to the bone for the sake of that promise, but his foundation was far too weak. Trying to transform himself in just a few months and score high enough to get into a good university was virtually impossible."
Zhu Long's expression had grown increasingly strange as he spoke—something even he may not have noticed. "But against all expectations, the boy actually ended up meeting the girl at the same university after all."
"As long as you're willing to work hard, it's never too late. A happy ending for true love—that's what that is." Zhang Ju sighed sentimentally.
Hearing Zhang Ju's words, Zhu Long's expression turned even stranger. He shook his head. "The girl had gotten into the country's top medical school. The boy's scores fell a hundred and fifty points short of the cutoff."
At the words "medical school," Chen Ge seemed to understand something. But the other club members still looked completely confused.
"So how did he meet her?"
"In an anatomy class."
Zhu Long's fingernails dug into his own flesh, but he didn't seem to notice at all. "The boy had been fished out of a jar of formaldehyde and placed on the girl's dissection table. They met at the same university—so do you think the girl will keep her promise and stay with the boy forever?"
His expression grew increasingly strange, but Zhu Long was entirely oblivious to his own abnormality.